Group hopes to organize support for Nebraska City aquatic center

An Oct. 30 meeting is scheduled at the Rowe Safety Complex to mobilize support for a new swimming pool in Nebraska City and the sales tax needed to fund the project.

The 6:30 p.m. is intended to answer questions about the city's proposal and organize volunteers to sit at booths.

Dan Swanson

Group hopes

to organize

pool support

An informal group of citizens have scheduled an Oct. 30 meeting hoping to organize support for a sales tax resolution on the Nov. 6 ballot that will fund an aquatic center and fiber optic networks in Nebraska City.

Pool supporters and anyone available to donate time to sit at a booth, as well as anyone with questions regarding the city's proposal, are invited to the 6:30 p.m. meeting at the Rowe Safety Complex.

The ballot includes Resolution 2576-12 that will increase the sales tax by a half cent. If approved, a bond up to $6.1 million will be issued.

Phil Silvius, a contact for the group Nebraska City Citizens for Progress, said the alternatives outlined by JEO Consulting Group are being considered.

The alternatives include fixing the current pool, building a new pool at the current location or building a new pool at a different location.

"As a proponent of this, I would hope if we vote to approve the funding, we would get a modern facility that would last for the next 20 or 35 years," Silvius said.

The current Olympic-sized pool holds 330,000-gallons of water that are filtered through a heater three times a day. It was built in 1969 and Dave Henke of JEO Consulting Group said it has already outlived its design life. The bathhouse building is 65 years old.

Silvius said he hopes for a show of support for the pool project because, if the sales tax resolution fails, it can not come back up to fund a pool for two years. If it were passed after two years, it could still take another year to get an aquatic center designed and constructed.

He said a breakdown at the current pool could dash hopes that it will continue to serve the community indefinitely.

"If it doesn't pass now, it's another two years gone and we don't know what shape the pool will be in then," he said.

A 2008 study said the pool is deficient because the kiddie pool leaks thousands of gallons of water per day, the piping and filtration system leaks and water turnover rates are below current state designs to combat disease.

The study said there are parking shortages and the pool and bathhouse do not meet Americans With Disabilities standards.

Suggestions for an aquatic center include a zero-entry design to merge with a kiddie pool, water playground with slides, shade deck and six to eight lane lap pool.